Yesterday I ran the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon in 4:31:10! My first goal was to finish… check… and secondly, to finish under 4:30, but this is close enough! I have to say that in comparison to my first marathon, this is better in that I actually finished 
In comparison to my second marathon, I -thank God- had no IT band syndrome and so this was MUCH less painful!! Apparently it’s true that the third time’s the charm
The day started off really well when I found out it would be a low 60’s degree, cloudy day. I didn’t sleep all that well, but woke up at 5 AM to get to Balboa Park. My roommate Frankie brought her dogs to the event, and she took pictures while I stretched, dropped off my gear, and found my corral. The only concern I had was an old calf injury that started to flare up during my 20 miler a few weeks ago, and was still present on my 13 miler last weekend.
I saw a few people I know from work milling around the start line, but after the race began I put on my headphones and got into my pace. For the first few miles I ran below my typical pace, remembering that I have to conserve energy over the long run! The spectator turnout was fantastic, first as we ran up to the Hillcrest area and were awarded high fives amidst Rainbow flags from a big group of men wearing wigs and fake boobs! Then we turned around south, down past Balboa Park and around PetCo Park. We looped into the Gaslamp, in which some of the businesses were open and had spectators shouting encouragement to the runners. By the USS Midway I noticed the first band, for which I turned off my music and enjoyed the Rock n’ Roll experience.
I think around mile 5 or 6 we began running up the highway, which I never noticed was uphill! My left calf injury had been acting up since the start, and the uphill didn’t help. I hoped and hoped and stretched many times during the race to make sure it didn’t suddenly cramp up and ruin everything… something I had been anxious about for the past 2 weeks. Amazingly and by divine intervention, my worries evaporated at mile 14 when it suddenly eased up and I was able to run the race without further calf issues! Well, maybe once on mile 22 but I was able to stretch it out.
The race took us past the Fashion Valley mall, to Mission Bay Park, looped around to Pacific Beach, and back towards the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. I felt really good for almost all of the race, and I stuck to my strategy of eating an Accel Gel every 4 miles (one Gu at mile 20 because they were handed out) and never passed up a CytoMax energy drink stop. The Medic tents were handing out salt packets, of which I took 2 and I’m sure it helped! Because of this my energy level was faily constant… though around mile 22, then more so around mile 24, I started to think “uh, this hurts… I wonder if I’ll ever do this again?”
Not that I couldn’t run, I just knew it would be sooooo much easier to walk!!! In the last few miles there were a lot of walkers that I passed, I envied that they probably weren’t in as much pain as I was but I just thought about how much better my time would be Also, I wanted to be able to say I ran a marathon, not walked it. (I’m not counting the walking as I drank the energy drinks, I end up coughing and spilling it all over if I try to drink and run at the same time!) Surprisingly, after I’d clear the drink station and begin running again, it wasn’t as painful to restart as it was in my longer training runs. That was a definite plus!
After mile 24 I did start to think about the finish just a little too much… “am I there yet? Where is it??” People without bibs were running in the opposite direction of us, I assume to find their friends and run them in. I did see one of my friends do this and he encouraged me by saying “Only 2.5 more to go!” but in all honesty, what got me through those last few miles was just my determination to never quit and push myself to the limit. If I were to give in and walk, I’d be letting myself down, as I knew I could run. So RUN I did!
Once inside MCRD I kept looking up for the big balloons that usually signify a finish line, listening for a loudspeaker indicating we were getting close to the spectator stands. I was sooo happy once I saw the balloons! As I tried to pick up my pace- at this point, it probably was about 0.15 seconds faster per mile, that’s all my energy had left– I lifted my shoulders, thought about how “hey, I’m finishing now!” and gave the photographer the best smile I could!
Afterwards I ate a bunch of fruit, drank a ton of water, and changed into dry clothes. Once I got home, I took a loooong warm shower and a quick nap. My roommate and I went to Arrivederci in Hillcrest where I ate as much bread, fettuccine, and tiramisu as I could fit into my stomach. I’m counting calories on LiveStrong.com, and I calculated that the marathon burned 4,589 calories!!!! Try as I did to eat, I could only match it with 5,365 calories of food. I also tried to keep to the 4:1 carbs to protein, but it was more like 3:1. Oh well.
Today my left calf is cramped, and my quads are soooo sore! I’m taking the elevator everywhere and my ortho friends put in a consult for me to get PT so I can adequately recover. Overall, it was an awesome experience. Honestly… call me crazy, but I wish I could run again today! But then I try to stand up from a chair and feel how hard I worked yesterday I still can’t wait until I run again… maybe plan another marathon in December? Anyone interested?
